Finding a job

If you believe everything in the media then you may be feeling that there aren't any jobs available and Chicken Licken was right about the sky falling. So you need to know that, as I write this in March 2009, Careerjet is listing nearly one-and-a-half million jobs in the UK.  If you fancy trying abroad, it also lists over 16 million jobs internationally.   Careerjet trawls lots of other sites, so is a good place to start, and you can search it here.

So there are jobs out there - how can you get one of them?

• Network - talk with the people who can help you

• Build your strengths - develop yourself, learn new skills

• Get organised - finding a job is a full-time job

• Prepare - write good CVs and letters, get ready for interviews

• Dig in - learn from what happens and weather the disappointments

How to network

Many jobs change hands because somebody knows somebody - somewhere between 60% and 80% in some sectors.  So this suggests two tactics:

• make sure everybody you know is looking out for you

• get to know lots more people who might look out for you

People sometimes shy away from networking, perhaps because they think it means saying "Gissa job!" to all their friends and family.  So you'll be pleased to see that I don't think you should ever do this.  They probably don't have a job to give you and it'd embarrass both of you enormously. Networking is about:

• sharing useful knowledge

• getting introductions to people who might help

Begin by listing everybody you know and thinking about how you might be able to help them.  What do you know that'd be useful to others?  

Now, what do others know that'd be useful to you?  Like:

• what's it like to do a particular job?

• how do people get hired in a particular industry or firm?

• who's expanding (yes, even now!) and who's contracting?

• what gets people noticed positively?

• what extra qualifications give somebody an edge?

• who do they know who knows some of this?

I hope it's becoming clear that career networking is about asking people for advice and help (and about asking them who they know who could advise and help).  There's more good advice at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/graduate_management/article3402745.ece and http://www.bristol.ac.uk/researchstaff/networking/howtonetwork.html 

Build your strengths

Think about what you know, and can do, that makes you useful to an employer.   Make a list of your skills and consider how you'll prove you've got them.  What have you achieved that shows you can work in a team...solve a difficult problem...manage other people...deal with conflict...deliver project results on time...?  These could all be abilities to present in your CV and highlight at interview.

And which of these could you improve by study and practice?  Showing that you can learn and are still developing yourself is a good way to stand out from the crowd.  Consider what you can learn that will make you more employable. http://www.learndirect.co.uk/ is a good place to start, and your local colleges are another.  You'll find a list at http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/reference_and_subject_resources/further_education/fe_colleges3786.cfm 

Get organised

Work hard at getting work, even if you'd usually rather play things by ear.  Organise your job-hunting week to cover:

• searching websites (most companies now recruit this way), newspapers and magazines

• networking by phone or face to face

• writing applications and keeping your CV focused

• attending interviews

• learning to get better

• keeping records of what's happening and what you're learning

There's much more on this at http://www.totaljobs.com/Content/Jobseeking_Plus.html and http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/getthatjob/ and http://career-advice.monster.co.uk/searching-for-jobs/careers.aspx 

Prepare good CVs

Yes, that's CVs in the plural.  Companies, selectors and jobs differ a lot and if you send everybody the same CV then you'll get lots of rejections.  Put together a foundation, then re-write that every time to aim it accurately at the selector who's reading it.  More basics:

• Keep it short - selectors are busy and may reject anything more than two pages

• Get the layout, the spelling and the grammar right - ask somebody else to proofread

• Be positive about yourself, but don't lie - getting found out is disastrous

• Put your name and qualifications as a centred header, in about 24pt, on page 1

• Put your address, phone and email as a centred line under your name, in about 18 pt

• Omit space-wasters like "CV", "address", "phone number" - it's obvious what they are

• Begin with a 30-40 word statement of who you are and what you do

• List your most recent job first, then work back, with less detail as you go 

• For each job, list "Responsibilities" & "Achievements"

• Quantify as much as possible - dates, budgets, size of project, results

• Put education and personal details last, and keep them brief

There's good advice at http://career-advice.monster.co.uk/CVs-Applications/careers.aspx and www.open.ac.uk/platform/campus/careers/how-write-successful-job-application 

CVs that emphasise your skills - Functional CVs - are becoming more common, and there are useful guides at http://www.open.ac.uk/careers/skills-based-or-functional-cv.php and http://www.alec.co.uk/cvtips/writfucv.htm 

Prepare good letters

Again, each letter has to be different because each reader is different, but there are some common points:

• Always write to a person - use your network, the web and directories to get names

• Keep it simple, clear, polite and human

• Get the layout, the spelling and the grammar right - ask somebody else to proofread

• Think more about what the reader wants than about what you want

• Have a short, clear title that describes the letter accurately

• Tie your letter in to something that has special meaning for the reader

• Try to offer something that your reader really wants

• Keep your sentences short, with one idea per sentence

• Ask for what you want politely and directly

• Edit down hard till the letter is only one page, with lots of white space

Prepare for interviews

Success at interviews depends mostly on developing and using communication skills, so you have to practise and get feedback.  Reading about the skills helps, but try to find somebody to practise with so that you can improve each other.  However, there's good information at http://www.businessballs.com/interviews.htm and a video at http://career-advice.monster.co.uk/job-interview/careers.aspx 

Dig in

Finding a new job is a full-time job and, like every job, you should be learning from everything you do and everything that happens.  Hope for a quick result, of course, but prepare for a slow one.  While you're searching, improve your odds:

• Keep a log of your applications and note which ones get interviews to tune your applications

• Log interviews - hard questions, which answers worked best, how selectors reacted

• Always ask for feedback - "How could I come across better at interview?"

• Review often, learning from successes and the ones that didn't go well

• It can be hard to keep on after a disappointment, but perseverance usually wins

• You don't have to be perfect - you just have to be 1% better than the next person